the reelection of president barack obama made offical as a vote to cast on the floor today. that's really quite a historic event. so pleased that our new members will be here to bear witness to that treat several weeks ago i came before you bringing our 49 new members together, and we saw the beautiful diversity in every possible way. gender, geography, philosophy in every possible way, ethnicity of course. and now they are members of congress with constituents, and they will have a representative voting -- have a vote on the floor today for the electoral. the vote has been taken. but it was there who made the vote. yesterday on the floor represented several issues that i think we can work together on and extend a hand of friendship to the republicans to say let's work together for job creation, for good paying jobs here in america, build our infrastructure, address our energy challenges, make it an american so american families can make it in america. talk about the safety of the american people that we want to -- again, we must work together in a bipartisan way and with th